Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky-tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. He also worked as a disc jockey at various radio stations in Vancouver and nearby Portland, Oregon. In 1958, he moved to Houston, Texas, after signing a contract with D Records. He sang at the Esquire Ballroom weekly and he worked as a disk jockey. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and later signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. In 1962, he recorded his first album, ...And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, Texas. The ongoing music scene of Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.
In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid-1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho and Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson.
In 1990, Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed that he owed $32 million. The difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1992, Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?; the profits of the double album—destined to the IRS—and the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk.
Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television. Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the bio-diesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil. Nelson is also the honorary chairman of the advisory board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas.
Nelson uses a variety of music styles to create his own distinctive blend of country music, a hybrid of jazz, pop, blues, rock and folk. His "unique sound", which uses a "relaxed, behind-the-beat singing style and gut-string guitar" and his "nasal voice and jazzy, off-center phrasing", has been responsible for his wide appeal, and has made him a "vital icon in country music", influencing the "new country, new traditionalist, and alternative country movements of the 1980s and 1990s".
In 1969, the Baldwin company gave Nelson an amplifier and guitar with their "Prismatone" pickup. During a show in Helotes, Texas, Nelson left the guitar on the floor of the stage, and it was later stepped on by a drunk man. He sent it to be repaired in Nashville by Shot Jackson, who told Nelson that the damage was too great. Jackson offered him a Martin N-20 Classical guitar, and, at Nelson's request, moved the pickup to the Martin. Nelson purchased the guitar unseen for $750 and named it after Roy Rogers' horse "Trigger". The next year Nelson rescued the guitar from his burning ranch.
Constant strumming with a guitar pick over the decades has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound hole—the N-20 has no pick-guard since classical guitars are meant to be played fingerstyle instead of with picks. Its soundboard has been signed by over a hundred of Nelson's friends and associates, ranging from fellow musicians to lawyers and football coaches. The first signature on the guitar was Leon Russell's, who asked Nelson initially to sign his guitar. When Nelson was about to sign it with a marker, Russell requested him to scratch it instead, explaining that the guitar would be more valuable in the future. Interested in the concept, Nelson requested Russell to also sign his guitar. In 1991, during his process with the IRS, Nelson was worried that Trigger could be auctioned off, stating: "When Trigger goes, I'll quit". He asked his daughter, Lana, to take the guitar from the studio before any IRS agent arrived there, and then deliver it to him in Maui. Nelson then concealed the guitar in his manager's house until his debt was paid off in 1993.
Nelson is widely recognized as an American icon. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998. In 2011, Nelson was inducted to the National Agricultural Hall of Fame, for his labor in Farm Aid and other fund raisers to benefit farmers. In 2015 Nelson won the Gershwin Prize, the lifetime award of the Library of Congress. In 2018 The Texas Institute of Letters inducted him among its members for his songwriting. He was included by Rolling Stone on its 100 Greatest Singers and 100 Greatest Guitarists lists.
I'm Still Here
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And my heart fell at your feet
An' I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
Somebody else stood by your side,
And he looked so satisfied
An' I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
A picture from the past came slowly stealing,
An' suddenly, I got that old time feeling
An' I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
It's hard to know another's lips will kiss you,
And hold you just the way I used to do
Heaven only knows how much I miss you
And I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
An' I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
In Willie Nelson's song "I Can't Help It," the singer reflects on seeing an old flame on the street and how it brings flooding back memories and feelings of love. The song is a classic country ballad that speaks to the universal experience of seeing an old lover and feeling the memories come flooding back. As the singer comes into contact with their former lover, they are transported back in time to memories of love and affection. They are reminded of how they used to hold and kiss their lover, and just like that, they want to feel those things again.
The song captures the complexity of emotions that often arise from past relationships, and the overwhelming nature of these feelings that can sometimes make it difficult to move on. The singer understands that their former lover has found someone else to love and hold, but the memories of the past and the love they still feel for that person prevent them from doing the same.
Overall, "I Can't Help It" is a testament to the power of memories and the enduring nature of love, even when a relationship has ended. As much as the singer wants to move on, their heart is still tethered to the past, and they are unable to help themselves from feeling the way they do.
Line by Line Meaning
Today, I passed you on the street,
I saw you walking on the street today,
And my heart fell at your feet
I felt overwhelmed with emotion when I saw you,
An' I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
I have strong feelings for you and I cannot control them,
Somebody else stood by your side,
I saw you with someone else,
And he looked so satisfied
He looked content being with you,
A picture from the past came slowly stealing,
Memories from the past started to come back slowly,
As I brushed your arm and walked so close to you
When I was near you and touched your arm,
An' suddenly, I got that old time feeling
I had emotions that I thought were no longer there,
It's hard to know another's lips will kiss you,
It's difficult to accept that someone else will be intimate with you,
And hold you just the way I used to do
In the same way I used to hold you,
Heaven only knows how much I miss you
I miss you a lot, only heaven knows how much,
And I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
I am still in love with you and cannot change my feelings,
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Hank Williams, Sr.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
rimakuja
Happy wonderful tune ... making you so happy :-) Thank you my dear sweet Marianne for your cute video :-) Hugs from Stephan
Marianne Menon
@rimakuja Yes, :) it's a great little tune and it keeps your toes tapping Stephan :) Thank you so much for your lovely words and a Big Hug to you ♥ :) ~Marianne...
D-A Hommersom
Hello dear friend, I'm still here, to listing to your great uploads wich I love so much.
Greetings Marianne and a warm hug.
Stewart Fox
I don't know this one Marianne but I like it a lot my friend....Stewart.
Marianne Menon
@Stewart Fox Hi Stewart!! Yes it is a new one for me too:) even though I have had the album for "eons" :) It's a short little tune and a great toe-tapper :) Glad you enjoyed it and Thank you for taking the time to drop in to write a kind comment!! Have a great start of the new week my friend!!! ~Marianne...